The Ticket Window: CFB Week 6

Last week, I introduced you to The Ticket Window and I gave you four winners. Probably as close to feeling like a clutch 3 point shooter I might ever get and although this is a great start, it is also very important to learn from the games we watched and apply that information to the next batch of lines. Let’s see what we can make of week 6 in the college football world.

Western Michigan Broncos (-6) @ Buffalo Bulls

Western Michigan doesn’t look like they are missing much of a beat from last season’s Cotton Bowl team. Western Michigan has four running backs who are averaging 4+ yards per carry and now go up against a defense allowing 200+ yards per game on the ground. Last year the Broncos beat the Bulls at home 38-0 and so far this year the Bulls only wins come against Kent State, Florida Atlantic, and the school who helped you brush your teeth this morning, Colgate. I’m taking Western Michigan who should be favored by 10-13 points.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (-14.5) @ Kansas Jayhawks

This is a noon road game for Texas Tech in middle of nowhere Kansas and normally that’s a tough spot for a team to get up motivated for. The reason this situation does not scare me in this particular spot because Tech needs to get bowl eligible to save Kliff Kingsbury’s job and the back half of their schedule is not as easy as the first half. The Red Raiders are playing much better defensively this season than they have in the previous years and the offense is clicking like we have become used to watching. Hot take – Kansas is bad. I’m taking the Red Raiders and give up the points.

SMU Mustangs (+7) @ Houston Cougars

Houston is still struggling to find their identity on offense. Missing Greg Ward Jr from a year ago and last week made a change at QB when they started Kyle Postma over Kyle Allen. SMU comes in rolling. Chad Morris has this team putting up points against the best of them as they competed well against TCU. Houston’s star DT Ed Oliver is a game-time decision and even if he does play I do not fear the Cougars offense being able to spot 7 to a strong offense in SMU. Cougars broke 30 points once this season against a bad Rice team and in that game they had 17 points off turnovers giving the offense a short field. I’m taking the road underdog in SMU with an extra 7 to cover.

Navy Midshipmen (-7.5) vs Air Force Falcons

In a game like this where two teams run an identical offense which is also one of the more complex offenses to prepare for, it makes it a little different seeing as though these kids get weekly reps against it. Here I will take the team that is better at stopping the run: Navy. The Midshipmen are holding their opponents to just 129 rushing yards per game and the Falcons are giving up 198 per game. Navy has the #1 ranked rushing offense in the country. This should be a 10-17 point victory for the Midshipmen which is why they are getting backed by my money.

Arizona Wildcats (+7.5) @ Colorado Buffalo

Colorado’s is another offense that still has yet to find their identity and hasn’t even shown signs of coming close. The Buffs are coming off of a loss to UCLA where they struggled to score 23 points against a UCLA defense that gives up yards and points like Oprah. Arizona is coming off of a bye week following a loss to Utah and Rich Rodriguez’s job is in jeopardy. They have had extra time to prepare for this game and will be more rested. Colorado could win but I don’t think they will win by more than 7 so with that, give me the road dog (Arizona) getting more than a touchdown.

Good luck to everyone. Looking forward to building on that 4-1 start from last week. Check back tomorrow morning for The Ticket Window’s NFL edition which should be up at least 2 hours before the NFL kicks.